Our First Full AA Day

What a mad social whirl (for us!)



We met Dennis and Chris at Zukey Lake Tavern in Pinckney for lunch. They are leaving Sunday for two months in Australia! We always enjoy their company, and love listening to their stories. They are now the grandparents of two, a girl and a boy.

The new baby is named Tiberius James - which we thought was interesting and unusual. Later, Tom pointed out that on the TV show Star Trek, William Shatner's character is named James Tiberius Kirk. Chris' son must be a Trekkie!

Then, after a lovely lunch, we went out to dinner with Sniders and Grignons at Carrabba's in Canton. Good food, good friends, good conversation, and anticipation of picking Tom up at the airport after dinner. What a nice time!





We picked Tom up without incident, and now we're all ready for tomorrow's game!

The Village Green

Here's the Village Green Apartment, our home away from home for a while:

Apartment 105



Bedroom #1


Bedroom #2



The well-stocked kitchen



The living area


Dining area


Big closet

Bessie's Ready

Dick likes to set Bessie out on the riverside deck to greet kayakers. Today he equipped her in all kinds of U of M paraphernalia. I think we're excited about the approach of football season!

Dick's a Lumberjack!

And he's OK!

(I dare you to click on the title!)

This is one of the target trees!



Nice load of firewood



This will keep us warm in January, 2012!


OK now, just split it and stack it!


Here's my lumberjack after some felling!

Great Summer Day

The Charlands came out to go kayaking - it's the perfect day for it! Chris spotted the trailer at Beitner, and is running to our house! It gives me a chance to enjoy Shelly and Drew! Dick is still at the Visitor Center.





Dick discovered that the J&S has a new paint job. I think that yellow jeep ragtop really sets it off!

Mr. Marshal

Marsh came to see us today, and we had a lovely visit. He and Dick traded books as always. It was nice to catch up on the latest news.

His Dad has been in assisted living for a couple of years now, and so at the Canadian Lakes house it's just Marsh and his Mom. He's the primary care giver, and it's hard for him to get away for one or two days.

We had fun reminiscing about old days and old friends. One of the highlights was the golf cart tour of the property - we had a great time! He stayed for a dinner of burgers and sweet corn. A very nice day.

TCC&VB

Today Dick set up and manned the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau table at the G.T. Resort for the Regional Convention of Medicare and Medicaid Employees.



When he got home, he took some time to appreciate our beautiful river!

Oatmeal? Really?

Gym in the morning followed by breakfast at the new Grand Traverse Pie Co. downtown. What does one get for breakfast at the G.T. Pie Co. you may ask? Oatmeal. No kidding. They were out of the yogurt parfait.

Caching in the afternoon - you can see that we're gradually getting back to normal.

08/04/2011 You found Oh Crap Visit Log
Well the company's all gone and the weather is great so it's a perfect day to get the Jeep out of the barn and get into full "Caching Mode". We never knew about a ropes course back here. In fact the only one we ever saw was up at the hospital. This was a fairly quick find. signed log, took nothing and left our card and a #8 Hot Wheels. Thanks for showing us this trail and adding to our fun today.

08/04/2011 You found Stuck In The Middle Visit Log
Many great memories of this area. As a teen I learned to ski behind Bensley's boat, their cottage was just up the road in Crescent Shores. When we were young marrieds, we rented a cottage up the road on Mickey Lake. We got in "Caching Mode" this afternoon and got out the Jeep and took a ride. This was our first attempt at caching using our I Phone. After a fruitless search, we were about to give up when we figured out how to find the hint. BINGO!!
Took nothing but some trash that was on the ground, left a punch ball. Thanks for the memories.

08/04/2011 You found Extra Crispy Booty 2 Visit Log
This one has been sitting there for quite a while but we never seemed to be in "Caching Mode" when we drove past. Singed log and traded tags. TFTC

All Gone !

Gillespies and Jana are all leaving today. Gillespies are driving from here to Florida by way of Pittsburgh. They left this morning.

Jana is flying out tonight to D.C. - it was kind of a late flight to begin with, and she was delayed in Detroit - her flight didn't leave until 10:40 p.m. - and she goes to work tomorrow!

Oh no! I think this means that they're really leaving!

Kayaking

This was the last day of College for Kids - Dylan really enjoyed his class, and spent a lot of time practicing on the computer here at home.

The afternoon was perfect for a short kayak on the river - everybody loves that.









In the evening there was Friday Night Live. The theme tonight was Dancing in the Street.

Full Full Day Plus LANI

Cheryl
College for kids
Omelette Shoppe
Front St.
Walk in Bay
Dylan's Candy Bar
Lani

End of An Era

Dick and I did our Gym Thing this morning. Afterwards, Laurie and Dick headed out for the peninsula in the Jeep to do some geocaching. When Dylan was done with "college", he and Chip went over to Grace MacDonald Park to hit some tennis balls.

Later on in the day, Chip and Dylan decided they wanted to tube the rapids. Every year that's a big deal, and Dylan has always just loved doing it. Well, now it's kind of the end of that era. When they got back he said it was "OK" but he remembered it as being bigger, faster, and more fun. I guess he's outgrowing tubing the rapids. Heavy sigh.

Bye Tom

This was the first day of Dylan's Java class at College for Kids - he seems to have enjoyed it, and is looking forward to the rest of the week.

Tom is flying away today - he packed up his bike, and we went to UPS to ship it back to California.

It's a beautiful day, so we had our "last" lunch with Tom out on the deck.







Dick, Dylan and I took him to the airport - hugs and waves and then he's gone again.

Jana, Dick and I went for a walk in the mall - I felt the need to stretch my legs! I had a good walk, and Jana got in some excellent shopping! Dick found some new sneakers - it was a good thing.

VASA

Day after GenFest - just kind of a mellow time. Three of us were just kind of rusticating round here, but our four intrepid bikers (Gillespies plus Tom) went biking on the Vasa trail today - they enjoyed it very much. And we enjoyed rusticating.

GenFest 2011

What a wonderful Genfest we had this year! The cottage provided by Sharon and John on Forest Lodge was just perfect for this event! Big rooms, big porches, and a great beach made it the perfect venue.

I have to say that Barb's project, The Steiger Family Cookbook, was a big hit. Everybody contributed to it, recipes old and new - such fun!

The porch turned out to be the perfect spot for chatting:

and for admiring Drew!

The living room was so comfortable and cool - a terrific place to duck into!

The beach was down a hill from the cottage, a quite a ways away, but it sure didn't bother the kids!

The porch was also the perfect place for eating!

Eating inside wasn't bad either...

The ladies of the kitchen - Barb and Sharon, Melissa and Michelle - the food was bountiful and delicious - they all did a marvelous job!

The beach was the big attraction for all of the kids - it was fun watching them attack Chris!

Can you tell that these two are on vacation?

Oh no - I think Chris is in real trouble!

And over he goes! Kids rule!

We had a fascinating discussion about PNC (Melissa) and 1105 (Jana), and we were cool the whole time.

Jackson preparing to squirt someone no doubt!

Let's go kayaking! They sent the young legs off to get the kayaks.

Peachy and beachy

Kayaking strategy meeting

Family confab

Off they go to the island

Laurie, Carla, Jackson and Dylan

Doug and descendants

Laurie got the new kayak!

Triumphal return from the island

Minute to Win It - Breakfast Puzzle - Chip and Dylan

Tom doing the Nose Dive

Dick gives it a try

Melanie and Izzy enjoying the water

Jana balancing the dice - she did it! Laurie did it too. Such talent in one family:)

Dylan playing Suck it Up

Big, big bubbles were fun, fun to watch

Carla was the adult bubble champ -

I personally think that Dylan was the Champ of the Cousins

Oops! Balancing the dice is hard!

Thank you one and all for a glorious fun-filled day. GenFest just keeps getting better and better!